Wriging

The End of Poverty - Economic Possibilities for Our Time .... Jeffery Sachs

Finishing Alexander Pushkin - complete prose fiction..... I started it a week or so before graduation.

Freedom Evolves .... Daniel C. Dennett

I'm catching up on a bunch of blogs as I haven't been reading much the last few weeks.

just finished "the secret"

Not reading now, but just purchased:

Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger - Ronald Sider

The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon but I stranded after thirty pages because it is mindbreaking stuff and I need some light entertainment because I'm currently writing my thesis.

Thats why I turned to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) by J.K. Rowling. Light and entertaining, just what I need right now :)

I´m re-reading Emma (Bronte) and El Misterio del Solitario (Gaarder). Both very good & recommended!

the internet

... I just read The Alchemist as well.

Gnorb: On Writing is a good resource. I read it when it was first published.

I am currently reading:

Einstein (new release) by Walter Isaacson
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon
Burning Bright, by Tracy Chevalier

"The Alchemist"
For some reason I was disappointed with that book. Everyone insisted it was a must read and I remember feeling kind of let down.

I'm currently reading "1 man, 9 rules - taking over the world".

It's currently out of print and dates back to 2003 or 2004 but was written by a famous (cough) Scrivs (cough) 9rules member :)

On a serious note, I've blown the dust off "The Soul Of A New Machine" by Tracy Kidder.

It's a good read for the true geeks at heart.

I just finished "The Great Gatsby" and "The Secret". Currently I'm reading "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency", the first book of the series. I recently saw "The Book Thief" in the bookstore, I'm still thinking if I'm going to read it.
I'm always on the look out for good books to read...

I'm reading We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver.

Ambitious, to say the least, and relevant more than ever in the wake of the Virginia Tech killings.

The last book I read was iWoz, back in January. Since getting access to the internet I've pretty much stopped reading.

I can't remember when I started reading 1421: The Year China Discovered America, by Gavin Mendes, and I'm still in the front few pages! I need more time in a day!!

Winnopeg, I definitely want to check out iWoz.

But right now, I'm reading 1984, which was given to me by a buddy of mine for my birthday. It's long overdue.. I really don't read much, and when I do I tend to choose non-fiction, but I am definitely enjoying this book. Now I know where valve got their inspiration for Halflife 2.

After that I'll read the second book I received, The Rum Diaries by Hunter S. Thompson, a literary genius.

I pick up Milton Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom" every once and a while, but I can only take so much glorious libertarian theory.

I'm reading "Jewels: A Secret History" by Victoria Finlay, who also wrote "Colour". Love the non-fiction that reads like fiction.

CSS Mastery and the Dune Prequel Trilogy

I'm having a bit of a nostalgia binge at the moment, fueled by a recent trip back to the family home where I emptied storage of a few crates of my books...
I'm re-reading:
The Earth's Children sequence by Jean M. Auel. Her ideas about early modern man and the evolution of societies are truly laughable, but I read the first of these books whilst working in Orang-Utan sanctuary in Borneo. They just bring back so many memories.

The Ender saga and the Shadow Trilogy by Orson Scott Card.

The entire works of Terry Pratchett .

And more crappy chick-lit than is probably good for me. Well, work is a bitch at the moment and I need to unwind!

Just finished The Milkweed and very highly recommend it. We all know the history and background to WWII and the Jews but this story is from another vantage point--that of a child who is unaware of politics.

Beyond the pile of books I trawl through for research on a daily basis as part of phd, I'm reading the following (added Amazon links in case anyone was interested) ...

Godel Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter

39 Microlectures in Proximity of Performanceby Matthew Goulish

Government in the Future by Noam Chomsky

Still re-reading Catch 22. I've been lazy with the reading recently. The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai) is up next.

@ auburn: The Milkweed is an excellent read!

@ Rich: I highly recommend The Inheritance of Loss.

Ehheh. I didn't like The Inheritance Of Loss. Great themes, and I can clearly see why the book is named such, but it was too ... cynical.

I'm reading Jane Eyre and Moby Dick. Oh, classics. What have I gotten myself into?

shadowsun7: I understand your perspective on The Inheritance of Loss...but...we can agree to disagree.

Jane Eyre, is by far, one of my all-time, top favorite books. I read it as a teen, and have read it several times as an adult. I went to Haworth, England, and toured the Bronte Parsonage...such a fascinating place, within the Moors.

@auburn: What is truly fascinating about Milkweed is the child's perspective,. It is a fantastic book, for both children and adults.

We can agree to disagree.

Hear, hear! Jane Eyre is ... used in literature class where I live. That takes away some of the fun for the students, so I'm making sure I read it (and enjoy it) before using it as an exam text. And I just finished We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver. Chilling and delicious.

PS: What do you think of The Observations, Lorrim?

shadowsun7: I haven't read We Need To Talk About Kevin. A friend of mine read it, and said it was a good read. What did you think about it?

I have The Observations on my stack of to-reads...and haven't gotten to it yet. What did you think of it??

I'm reading Clowngirl by Monica Drake and The Best Practice Guide to CSS/XHTML by Patrick Griffiths which are both equally good for different reasons. As you can all imagine, I'm sure. I also have Chuck Palahniuk's new book Rant in my bookshelf begging me to skip Monica for now and dig into it.

We Need To Talk About Kevin? It's dark. And the twist in the end was quite a shock for me, though in retrospect it was quite a logical thing to have happened, since there was much talk of 'a splitting up' throughout the novel. Oh, and you get to understand Kevin intimately by the end of the novel.

Go read it - I enjoyed it very much. ;)

H.P. Lovecraft - The Call Of Cthulhu and other weird stories (Penguin modern classics edition). 18 short stories.

I read the "Thing and the doorstep and other weird stories" a while ago and intend to read through all of his published works. I don’t always get on with his writing style, but his imagination is undeniably fantastic and his influence on modern genre fiction and pop culture huge.

Too much, as usual:

* Auschwitz: A New History, Laurence Rees
* Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
* Xenocide, by Orson Scott Card
* From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods, by Martha C. Howell and Walter Prevenier

I keep hearing about the Alchemist and the Secret... and those are both on my list. Right now I'm reading Getting Things Done, CSS Mastery and trying to stay current on several blogs.

Finished Cell, Voice of the Master, and On Writing. Also just finished Next (Michael Crichton) a book which had a million characters which barely tied in at the end, a smart-ass parrot and a poo-slinging humanzee (half chimpanzee, half human) with deadly aim. Great subject, mediocre story.

I'm now continuing with Characters and Viewpoint, listening to Stephen King's Salem's Lot (unabridged) and will probably pick up and read through The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama.

As a side note: Anyone read the Left Behind series? What are your thoughts on it? (Well, Cappuccino already left behind his thoughts on it.) Thinking about picking that one up next, as it looks like a fast enough read that I can probably slam through the whole series in about a month. (Yes, I have all of the books. Vicariously, through my mom. Who's let me borrow them.) Still, wondering if I should get into that since once I get the series I know I won't want to stop until it's done and over with. Otherwise I'll probably be reading Cartomancy by Michael Stackpole (sequel to The Secret Atlas), though book 3 in the series (A New World) won't be coming out until July or something.

Hmm....

Gnorb: The Art of Happiness is an excellent read.

I finished Einstein, and Burning Bright, and am in the middle of The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

I have started The Lost, and also The City of Shadows.

bout to pick up the Kinsey Reports

Currently reading "The Prince" By "Niccoló Machiavelli", translated by "George Bull". Re-Published by Penguins Books Great Ideas 2004. First published 1531.

I purchased these books today:

Roma, by Steven Saylor

A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

Emily, by Rose MacMurray

The Earth and Sky, and also Dreams of My Russian Summers, both my Andrei Makine

Bringing up boys by James Dobson.

Have a few more days to get my act together before the little one arrives.

I just began reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I really enjoyed The Kite Runner and so far this book has got my attention.

How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter... hey, I know it's iffy, but it makes me laugh ;)

Just started Keeping Mum by Brian Thompson and re-reading On Digital Photography by Stephen Johnson.

ChrisGoodrich: I will be starting A Thousand Splendid Suns, today. I bought it yesterday, as I enjoyed The Kite Runner, also.

Khaled Hosseini does an amazing job with characterization and diction. Every word seems to fit and flow beautifully. The Kite Runner was one of my favorite books. I had to read it for the university shared reading for orientation and was amazed.

ChrisG: That is what I really enjoyed about The Kite Runner, how everything flowed together, and how the characters completed the circle of life. It is a favorite of mine, and always will be. They type of book that makes a lasting impression on both your emotions and mind. I couldn't wait for Hosseini to author another book.

I have started ATSS...and just know it will be a wonderful read.

i have about 10 pages left on the The Godfather. i haven't been able to put it down the past two days.

I just finished reading Grapes of Wrath and have now moved on to Voltaire's Bastards by John Raulston Saul, which carries some pretty heavy analysis of "modern society". I also have Fiasco and some works by Nietzsche started and waiting to be finished.

Romance.

It's summer, and it's time for light reading :)

Course, I'm still trying to slog my way through Joyce's Ulysses. Can't remember why I put it on the reading pile, but now that it's there, I've got to finish it.

White Knight by Jim Butcher
(Book 8 of the Dresden files)

I have really liked this series, it was a bit slow to start up, but it's fun now.
It has plot stuff that carrries over from mulitple books. Not hugs plots but nice little back/side stories that keep everything together.

Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh

Just started reading River Out of Eden by Richard Dawkins, and Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling.

I'm also waiting on Amazon to deliver Daemon, Flatland and Sync — a trisect I'm officially naming "The Summer Starters".

On Chesil Beach by Ian McKewan

I've recently started going to a local book club - basically a bunch of us meet up once a month for a pint and a good laugh. This is the third book we've read and I recommend it thoroughly.